Shared
by ShadowofUndine
Summary: A Puzzleshipping Mini-Drabble Collection. Chapter One: 11 drabbles, 2356 words total.


A/N: My (Mini) Drabble Collection. I'll update with a new chapter every time I hit 2000 words—that means there's no specific update schedule. I let whatever I could think of inspire me to write these drabbles. There aren't any AU ones, at the moment, but they cover a lot of random subject matter. The only two here that have anything to do with each other are 'Fanservice' and 'Common Occurrence'. It's not explicitly shown, but I'm of the firm belief that they belong together. Oh, also, whilst these are all geared toward Puzzleshipping, it's more subtle in some than in others. In one or two, it doesn't seem to show up at all.

The quality on all of these varies widely. I like some better than others for various reasons. I've tried my best to revise all of them to be acceptable (for me) quality, but I also didn't worry over it too much. These mini-drabbles are supposed to be 'stress-free' (or, at least, low-stress) writing for me. Just for fun, you know. But, please feel free to leave any feedback or criticism. Help (whether it be of what to improve or what was good just as is) is always appreciated.

I've arranged them here in a vaguely chronological order, but I definitely did not write them this way (think 'The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,' with its two orders). The written order (if you'd rather read them that way) is: Fanservice, Chain Link, Security, Understanding, Empty House, Pleasure, Birthdays, Looking Up, Power, Common Occurrence, and Pleiades.

Disclaimer: YGO is not mine. It would not be nearly as amazing, if it were. Sorry for the long note. Enjoy. ~ Shadow  
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_[Security]_  
'I... found out why I've been losing my memory. There's another... me inside me. A scary me. I think he's been hurting people, or... worse. I hope not. I don't want to hurt anyone.

'I can't tell my friends. What if he hurts them, too? I... I don't want to lose them. But, I think he came from the Millennium Puzzle, and that's why I _have_ my friends. So, even though I'm scared, I don't want to lose him, either. He granted my wish.'

The dark spirit's crimson eyes almost glowed in the darkness as it absorbed the pages of the child host's diary, left carelessly open. Even though it was obvious that the young one did not understand his true purpose or methods, he had been accepted. Only a child would do such.

It would not do to have the young host try to interfere with his judging of the condemned out of fear. The dark spirit supposed he may well lay the child's fears to rest. 'You will be forever safe.'  
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___[Power]__  
____Crunch._ One after another collapsed beneath his prowess. They could neither run, nor hide.

He judged each with the stringent nature befitting his status. Whether they lived or died was his choice, and his alone. None could refute him. He was their God.

___Crunch._ He smirked, as another perished at his whim.

_--_

The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle knew he loved Autumn most. He just couldn't put his finger on _why_.

___Crunch__.  
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___[Looking Up]__  
____The Stone Tablet at the museum showed his past as an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. _He looked up.

___Ishizu told him the story of the nameless Pharaoh and the God Cards which could unlock his sealed memories. _He looked up.

___Anzu expressed her utter lack of understanding when he told her not to tell his partner of the meeting at the museum and the key to his memories. _He looked up.

___Kaiba explained—from the screens littering Domino, and from the Zeppelin in the sky—the rules of Battle City._ He looked up.

___Jounouchi told him of his quest to become a true Duelist—that he would duel him in the Finals, and show him he was worthy of the Red Eyes Black Dragon._ He looked up.

___Marik, Bakura, Mai, Rishid... No matter who he spoke to, or what he did,_ he always looked up.

___Mou hitori no boku, is there something wrong?_ He supposed his latent irritation was seeping through the (mostly) closed mind link.

___Aibou. It's nothing. Sleep._ Without his memories, he did not know if fault could be placed upon his partner, or only upon himself, but Gods, he hated being short_._

___Okay. Good night._ The covers shifted once more, and then silence.

___Good night, aibou._ He looked down and smiled.  
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_[Birthdays]_  
"Happy Birthday, aibou," his other self smiled warmly down at him, a gentle see-through hand on his shoulder.

Happiness surged through him at the congratulatory words, and Yuugi couldn't help the smile that filled his face. "Thank you!"

"Always."

He giggled. His other had made that his new favourite word. It was always, "always this", "always that." And Yuugi liked it immensely. Especially when that word was said to him.

But amidst his giddiness, another thought surfaced. "Hey, mou hitori no boku, when's your birthday?"

A perplexed look came upon his other's face. "I do not have memories of my past, and, therefore, no memory of my birthday. Why do you ask?"

"Hmm." Yuugi ran through the various thoughts playing all over his mind, and eventually found the one he liked most. "Oh!"

"Aibou?"

He giggled again, face deeply flushed, despite wanting to keep everything a surprise. He stood on his tip-toes, and placed a kiss on his other's cheek. "Happy Birthday, mou hitori no boku."  
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___[Understanding]__  
_Yuugi blinked. "Is that... Egyptian?" Placed before his other self, a number of photocopied sheets littered his desk.

His other turned to him. "Oh. Aibou." He glanced down to the sheets scattered about. "Yes. Your grandfather gave them to me. He said they were from the museum, and that they might be helpful in discovering something about my past."

He couldn't help his interest, and leaned farther over his other's shoulder in order to get a better view. Doing this resulted in him floating a few inches off the ground, and he placed his hands against his other self's back for support. "Oh, neat! What's it say?"

He turned to stare at the black and white pages before him in silence before a moment, before beginning to speak. The Egyptian words that fell from his other's lips were spoken in a different sort of voice--quiet and almost reverent. Yuugi felt himself drawn in to listen. It was beautiful.

All too soon, his other fell silent, once more scanning over the pages. "It's difficult to explain. But it says something like--"

Yuugi's voice took over, and spoke without his consent. "I know what it says."

His other turned to look at him, confusion obvious on his face. "You... do?"

"Yes."

His other turned in the swivel chair to look directly at Yuugi. He could feel something like concern floating through their mind link. Concern, and... something else Yuugi could not identify. "...How?"

He swallowed, and tried to search his mind for the answer. "I... don't know." He moved a little closer to his other self, a little scared of why he couldn't find the answer. "I can't tell what the symbols say, but, when you spoke it," his voice trailed off, no longer able to find the words he wanted to say. "I don't know. I just understood."

His other self placed a gentle hand on Yuugi's arm. "Aibou..." Yuugi realized he must be worrying his other and quickly did his best to conceal his stupid fear from the mind link.

A moment of silence between them, and then, "It's all right, aibou. The reason doesn't matter. Perhaps you have some unknown connection to Egypt."

Yuugi watched in silence as his other self paused, considering some hidden thought. About a minute passed before he spoke again. "We can read this together, then. I'll teach you what the letters are. We can share it."

Yuugi smiled a little, despite his uncertainty, and giggled. "I'd like that."  
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___[Fanservice]__  
_Yami bit his lip and did not even try to conceal the lust he knew must be in his gaze as the centimetres closed between him and his partner. "Aibou..." Just this one time, he could allow himself his desire. Just this once.  
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___[Common Occurrence]__  
_Each night, when he slept, their hands would intertwine, the ghost of fingers graced his cheek, and lips searched out his own. His other was a terrible judge, and that was exactly the way Yuugi liked it.  
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___[Pleiades]__  
_The blanket of stars covered him, but it did not give him warmth. A certain grouped set of six stars seemed particularly cold tonight.___ My favorite constellation is Subaru__, _his partner had said when they both worried Jounouchi would not recover from his duel with Marik, ___Grandpa told me it stands for 'unity'. You can find it in the darkest part of the sky._

___All of my friends are there: Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, Otogi, Kaiba, and, of course, you. As long as those six stars are together, we'll always be together, too._ At the time, his anger over Jounouchi's death had been somewhat mollified. However, it was only now—when his other's soul was gone because of the darkness of his heart—that he realized something was wrong.

Yuugi was not in it.

"Mou hitori no Yuugi?" The feeling that passed through his stomach at the mention of his "name" sickened him. It was not his. He had lost his partner. He did deserve it.

"Rebecca." He heard her take a seat just out of his vision.

"You'll save my Darling, won't you?" No threats. The nameless Pharaoh knew it was her right, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

He did not answer her. She would not like his response. Without his partner, he could do nothing.

"You _will_, won't you?" More fight. More anger.

___Aibou__... _Pain again conquered his heart. The final words of his other self echoed through his every inch.

_-- ____Those gentle hands at his back—forcing upon him freedom he did not deserve. That smile, which meant everything. All of the essence that was his aibou. "I believe in you, mou hitori no boku." Then, the indescribable pain of being ripped from that which was half of him. Emptiness. Darkness. --_

Even through his continued silence, she did not press him further. Instead, her quiet crying steeped the night air, dyeing it with her tears. It did not help to suppress his feelings of guilt. There was nothing of him worth believing in. Everything had come from his other self. He did not try to comfort her.

Eventually, silence once again took hold of the night. Momentarily. Rebecca soon spoke again. "What were you looking at?"

He gestured vaguely toward the night sky.

A moment's hesitation. "Anything in particular?"

His gaze fixed upon the object of her question. The twinkling of the six stars was erratic—the group chaos without a stabilizing force. It needed his partner. _He_ needed his partner. "Subaru. Aibou told me about it."

"Darling..." Hardly more than a breath of air.

"But he isn't there. He said his friends were each, and left no room for himself."

At first, she said nothing. Gathering inside her hate for him, he guessed. It was the only natural thing for her to do. In her place, the one who had caused his other such torment would long be dead. Unfortunately, he was unable to kill what was already dead.

"Here, in America, that constellation is called the 'Pleiades'. It comes from a story about sisters. Seven of them."

"Seven Sisters?" He did not know how this American story was relevant.

"Yup. That means Darling can be there, too." He heard the accompaniment of the rocky ground shifting about as she stood, still just out of his vision.

"I'm tired. I'm going inside. Good night." Without a moment's pause, a jogging chorus of pebbles faded out with her.

___Aibou... can be there. _Seven. A family. He knew then. He must save his other at any cost, and complete the constellation in the sky by returning its missing star.  
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___[Pleasure]__  
_The Pharaoh pushed aside the opaque maroon drape and entered his chambers, intent on getting some—what he thought to be—well-deserved rest. Suddenly being thrust into becoming ruler of a country, having one's life threatened, having no memory of who his council were and _how_, exactly, to be a proper Pharaoh to these people had been rather exhausting.

To his dismay, he found someone already there. A young woman. Who looked disturbingly like Anzu. In a very, _very_ thin robe. The nameless Pharaoh suppressed a slight flush and averted his eyes accordingly, though the woman's gaze was fixed somewhere beyond his right shoulder. "Who... are you?"

The young Anzu-woman immediately dropped to the ground in a tight kneel--something he'd become quite accustomed to over the course of the day. "My Pharaoh!" The young woman's voice was light and sounded like what he could only describe as cinnamon, if that had a sound. He was almost _happy_ the girl didn't also sound like his friend. That they looked similar was embarrassing enough. "My name is Aneksi. I am to pleasure you this evening."

_P- Pleasure?!_ He did not attempt to suppress the flush this time and to ignore the sudden heat of the cool Egyptian night, as he knew both were fruitless endeavours. He had spent far too long with his aibou. "...I see." His words came out far more hesitant than he had intended, and only hoped the Anzu-woman would not notice.

When nearly a minute passed in silence, and the young woman made no move to leave, or speak up about his hesitation, or, even, to stand, he knew he would have to speak first. Traditions in his homeland were very strange. "Your... services will be unnecessary. You may go."

Without further prompt, the young woman stood and left. He hoped he hadn't hurt her by refusing—he didn't, after all, remember what was appropriate—but he certainly wasn't going to allow her to stay and do whatever it is she had been planning to do.

As the Pharaoh, now completely alone, removed his jewelry and slippers, a thought surfaced in his mind. _If that woman had been aibou, perhaps I would not have turned her away._  
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___[Empty Home]__  
_The Pharaoh had come to be in this body—_his_ body, not one he shared—and in this game, but his thoughts were not on them. They were on his aibou, only his aibou.

He was hollow. This body, these sands, the Nile—even without his memories, he knew they were his. Where he belonged. But still, he was empty. His partner—his other self—was not a part of this place. Without him, it was not complete. _Yuugi_ belonged.

But in this fabricated land, he could not confirm the reality of this. When he _was_ able—when his memories returned—the Pharaoh would have to leave, and his world would never be complete. Never could it be, without his aibou.  
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___[Chain Link]__  
_Ra had finished his day's journey, and Thoth sat in his nightly throne, reigning over the stars and protecting Egypt until Ra's return. The Pharaoh and Yuugi sat at the divine-given oasis's edge, the gentle slap of the water and his own jewelry the only sounds under Thoth's light.

The Pharaoh set his ring-adorned hand silently over Yuugi's. He knew they were both afraid of the touch, and the need that came with it. They were as one soul, but Ma'at had handed down her divine punishment, and cast them apart. The Pharaoh did not look at his young companion, and Yuugi kept his gaze also to the shimmering waters.

This small touch—this single link of chain between a Pharaoh and a young King of Games could never be broken. By God, nor man.


End file.
